5 Predictions for the 2018 Game Awards

The Game Awards airs live on Thursday, December 6 (watch it live on IGN starting at 6pm PT/9pm ET). Over the years, host and executive producer Geoff Keighley has built the event into not only a celebration of the gaming year coming to a close but a look ahead at the one to come. With that, we’ve got a few predictions on what announcements may be in store for us at the last major gaming event of 2018.

Prediction #1: Nintendo Shows the Tiniest Bit of Metroid Prime 4

Yeah, Reggie just downplayed anything happening anytime soon with Nintendo’s third pillar. But the fact of the matter is that they’ve probably got something to show by now, even if it’s just a CG trailer. And Keighley has a knack of getting major exclusives out of Nintendo. Look no further than 2014, when he scored a video of Miyamoto running around Hyrule from a Nintendo conference room. As someone who does this for a living, I can assure you, getting that is no easy task. Or take last year, when Zelda’s Master Cycle was revealed at The Game Awards. Point is, I think Reggie is playing coy, and Metroid is coming out to play – in some form – at this year’s event.

Prediction #2: Rocksteady Finally Shows Off Its Next Project

Batman: Arkham Knight shipped three-and-a-half years ago. What on earth has developer Rocksteady been up to since then?! Rumors abound, from Superman to Justice League to Batman Beyond. (Sorry, I made that last one up. Shout-out to Greg Miller because I know he’d be with me on that one!). But whatever the project is, the time has finally come to tell the world about it. Rocksteady did, after all, reveal Arkham City on Keighley’s stage, and they skipped this year’s E3. Simply put: it’s time, and Rocksteady has shown The Game Awards love before.

Prediction #3: BioShock Returns

BioShock is beloved, and deservedly so. It is perhaps the most narrative-driven first-person shooter since Half-Life, and its last installment, BioShock Infinite, is now over five years old. BioShock left such a mark on gaming that no gamer of a certain age can hear the words, “Would you kindly?” without thinking of Irrational’s masterpiece.

Here’s why it makes sense: Irrational itself has effectively dissolved. The team was mostly pared down after Infinite released, and the remaining members – including BioShock mastermind Ken Levine – reformed as Ghost Story Games and apparently aren’t working on BioShock anymore.

“We are a new team, working on a new game and we’d like our studio name to reflect that,” says Ghost Story on the FAQ section of their website. It’s unlikely that 2K Games will let the BioShock IP rot. Someone, somewhere, has probably been working on it, and perhaps The Game Awards will make for the perfect surprise reveal.

Prediction #4: Left 4 Dead 3 Shocks the World

Valve has said that Artifact is the beginning of the company getting back to making games. References to Half-Life 3 have reportedly been seen in Source Engine code in the past. So we’ve been teased before (some might argue it’s more like being trolled). And the reality is, if any of the big Valve games are ever going to return, Left 4 Dead is a lot more likely than Half-Life or Portal. The latter’s lead writers are long gone – a bad sign for a sequel to a game largely dependent on its sharp writing – and Left 4 Dead also lends itself to the modern type of highly replayable, potentially monetizable AAA game better than anything else in Valve’s catalog. Someday, Hell will freeze over and Valve will count to 3. That day might as well be December 6, 2018.

Prediction #5: Below Is Confirmed as Part of Xbox’s Winter of Arcade

Capybara Games’ Below is well-known in the Xbox community, because it’s been around literally as long as the Xbox One itself has. The stylized roguelike was first shown at E3 2013 – the same year as the Xbox One itself – before disappearing, reappearing, and disappearing again amidst a series of delays and, presumably, reworkings. Studio founder Nathan Vella has been saying “2018” for a while now, and with the year almost over and Microsoft saying they’ll be unveiling their Winter of Arcade lineup at The Game Awards, it would at this point be insane if Below wasn’t included. And it could very well be the game that kicks the promotion off, complete with an, “And you can get it right now!” declaration from ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla on the Game Awards stage.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on November 29. We’re 0 for 1 so far! :-)]

What do you think we’ll see announced at the event? How wrong do you think I am? Yell at me in the Comments below, and make sure to watch The Game Awards on IGN!

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